Winchcombe is a Cotswold community in the local authority area of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. Its population according to the 2011 census was 4,538. During the Anarchy of the 12th century, a motte-and-bailey castle was erected in the early 1140s by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford for the Empress Matilda, although the exact site of this is unidentified;. It has actually been suggested however, that it was to the south of St Peter's Church. In the Restoration period, Winchcombe was noted for livestock rustling as well as other lawlessness, triggered in part by hardship. In an attempt to earn a living, neighborhood individuals grew cigarette as a cash crop, in spite of this technique having been banned since the Commonwealth. Soldiers were sent in on at the very least one celebration to destroy the unlawful crop. In Winchcombe and also the immediate area can be found Sudeley Castle and also the remains of Hailes Abbey, which was just one of the primary centres of expeditions in Britain because of a phial had by the monks claimed to have the Blood of Christ. There is absolutely nothing left of the previous Winchcombe Abbey. St Peter's Church in the centre of the town is noted for its grotesques.